Retaining apparatus



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 11, 1968 FIG.

AGENT.

July 7, 1970 D. G. PHILLIPS 3,513,728

RETAINING APPARATUS Filed March 11, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

INVENTOR. DONALD G. PHILLIPS AGENT.

United States Patent RETAINING APPARATUS Donald G. Phillips, Anchorage, Alaska, assignor to Honeywell Inc., Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 11, 1968, Ser. No. 712,202 Int. Cl. B65d 21/02 U.S. Cl. 24---81 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A retaining apparatus in the form of a mounting foot that can be interchangeably employed between opposite top and bottom side surfaces of adjacent stacked casings which have bail supporting and releasable casing interlock portions for: (a) retaining a bail in its stowed, nonsupporting position under each stacked casing; (b) pre venting the stacked casings from separating during shipment; (0) providing an easy way of rapidly mounting and dismounting a selected one or more of the casings from their stacked position and (d) eliminating the need for the usual cumbersome rack structure on which these instruments have heretofore been required to be mounted.

It is an object of the present invention to disclose a mounting foot for insertion between either of the adjacent side surfaces of two casings to enable the casings to be rapidly assembled for shipping and display as an integral unit and to enable one or more of the casings to be rapidly disassembled from its stacked position for display as separate units.

It is another object of the present invention to disclose a mounting foot of the aforementioned type that has a first lipped portion for engaging or disengaging an outer flanged portion formed on two adjacent stacked casings, a foot portion integral with the first portion to separate the casings from one another and a manually actuated lug associated with the second portion for engaging or disengaging a flange located on an inner portion of one of these casings.

It is another object of the present invention to employ a threaded screw connection in the aforementioned second portion and a nut mounted for non-rotatable traversing movement thereon to provide a means of moving the aforementioned lug into and out of engagement with a side wall portion forming the base of one of the casings. It is another object of the present invention to employ a slotted out wall in the aforementioned foot portion to accommodatethe retentionof a bail thereon and wherein each pair of mounting feet enable a space to be provided between each adjacent pair of stacked casings wherein the bail can be stored,

It is another object of theprese'nt invention to disclose mounting feet that will provide a space between two selected casings so that air. can circulate through this space to rapidly cool these casings as heat is dissipated therethrough by electrical components that may be retained within these casings and thereby prevent these components from becoming heated to such a degree that justing screw, nut and pawl are employed with lipped portions on the foot to retain the side portions of the stacked casings shown in FIG. 1 in fixed relation with one another.

FIG. 1 of the drawing shows a typical view of how identical retaining units 10 can be interchangeably placed on either of the opposite sides of a pair of stacked casings 12, 14 to fixedly connect the casings together as will hereinafter be explained.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show that each of these retaining units 10 are comprised of a mounting foot 16, a nut 18, a pawl 20, a mechanically adjusted screw member 22 and a bail 24.

It should be understood that additional retaining units 10 can be used to stack other casings on the top of casing 12 in the same manner as that hereinafter described.

FIG. 1 shows a mounting foot 16 having a rectangular shaped portion 26 that can be inserted between the flanges 27, 28 forming the right side of a pair of adjacent casings for example the casings 12 and 14.

An additional mounting foot 16 is also inserted between the flanges 30, 32 forming the left side of the pair of adjacent casings 12, 14 in a manner similar to that shown at the right side of the casings 12, 14 in FIGS. 1 and 3.

FIGS. 1 and 3 shows that each of the rectangular shaped portions 26 of the mounting foot 16 extends between a plate 34 forming a base of casing 12 and a plate 36 forming a top plate of casing 14.

A top plate 38 is shown in FIG. 1 mounted on the top flanges of 40, 42 of the casing 12 in the same manner as the top plate 36 is mounted on flanges 28, 32 of the casing 14.

A bottom plate 44 is also shown in FIG. 1 butting against the lower side surface of the flanges 46, 48 and positioned above the top surface of the associated rectangular shaped portions 26 of the retaining unit 10 shown in the lower right and left corners of FIG. 1.

As is best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 the rectangular shaped portion 26 of each of the mounting feet 16 has a passageway 50 therein to permit the unobstructed passage of the screw member 22 therethrough.

The inner end portion of the mounting foot 16 has a wall 52 forming a rectangular slot therein as can best be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. The vertical portion 54 of the inverted L-shaped pawl 20 that is slightly smaller in width then the width of the slotted wall 52 is shown protruding through a wall 56 forming a slot in the base plate 34 of the casing .12 and between the sides of the wall 52.

The upper bent portion 58 of the pawl 20 is shown in FIG. 3 as protruding over the top surface of the flange 27 and into physical clamping engagement with the right edge 60. The lower portion of the pawl 20 has an apertured wall portion 62 therein that is of a slightly greater diameter than the diameter of the shank 64 of the screw member 22 on which it is mounted. A nut 18 See 1 is shown threadedly mounted on the shank 64 of the they will not properly perform their function in an elecscrew member 22. The distance across the face of the nut 18 is purposely of a size that is slightly smaller than the width of the slotted wall 52 to allow the nut 18 to move in a non-rotatable traversing manner along the threaded shank 64, in both directions when the screw member 22 is rotated.

The screw member 22 is of a length that will allow the nut to be retained in threaded engagement with the shank 64 when the lips 66, 68 on the front of the mounting foot 16 are disengaged from their respective flanges 27,

28 and the bent portion 58 of the pawl 20 can be completely disengaged from the right edge 60 of the flange 27 and clear of the wall 52.

When the bent portion 58 of the pawl 20 and the lips 66, 68 are separated from their associated flanges 27; 27

3 and 28 as just described by rotating the screw member 22 of each of the oppositely positioned retaining units of FIG. 1 the casing 14 can be readily removed from casing 12 by merely lifting the top casing 12 from the bottom casing 14 in a vertical direction.

It can also be seen that the casing 12 can be readily returned to its original stacked position on top of the casing 14 in the reverse manner to that just described and the screw member 22 then rotated in a direction to bring the lips 66, 68 of the oppositely positioned mounting feet 16 and the associated bent portions 58 of each of their pawl 20 again into engagement with their associated flanges 27, 27, 28; 30, 32, 30 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

It can also be seen in FIG. 1 that the inner end of each of the mounting feet 16 have a pair of walls 70, 72 forming grooves therein into which the associated ends of a substantially U-shaped bail 24 are inserted. The inner end of each of the mounting feet 16 also have curved surfaces 74, 76. FIG. 1 shows how the curved surfaces 76, and 74 of the feet 16 shown on the lower left and right end portions of the drawing are employed to support the bail 24 in a substantially horizontal position when the casings e.g. 12 and 14 are in a stacked horizontal position. The height of the mounting foot 16 extending between any two casings for example casing 12 and 14 thus provides a chamber 78 formed by plate 34 and 36 between which a bail 24 can be stored while it is supported on the curved surfaces 76, 74 of the mounting feet 16.

When a casing for example 14 is removed from its stacked position with the casing 12 its bail 24 can be rotated out of engagement with the curve surfaces 76, 74 in a downward clockwise direction as indicated by the arrow 79 in spring flexing engagement past the oppositely positioned end portions 80, 82 of the respective mounting feet 16 shown in the lower left and right corners of FIG. 1 until the central portion 84 of the bail 24 is brought into physical supporting contact with a flat surface such as a desk 86. When the casing for example 14 is in this last mentioned position the bail 24 will then be employed to support the lower front edge of the casing 14 at an inclined angle with respect to its lower rear edge on the flat surface 86.

The movement of the casing 14 to this last mentioned bail supporting position will thus make the parts of any instrument that is stored in the casing 14 more readily available for viewing and repair than is possible when it is in its previously mentioned stacked position.

The bail 84 is constructed of a resilient material that can then be sprung back past the oppositely positioned end portions 80, 82 into its original horizontal position in the reverse manner to that just described for FIG. 1 when it is desired to again stack the casing 14 on the bottom or top of another one of a series of casings for example the casing 12.

The embodiments of the invention which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An apparatus to retain stacked casings in fixed spaced apart relationship with one another, comprising substantially identical mounting feet adapted to be inserted between opposite top and bottom surfaces of each adjacent pair of said stacked casings, each of said mounting feet being comprised of a mechanical means adapted for movement between a position in which the adjacent casings are free to be disassembled with respect to one another and into another position in which the adjacent casings are stacked in fixed assembled relation with one another and wherein each one of the oppositely positioned mounting feet are provided with grooved out portions to pivotally support a bail thereon and for positioning the bail between the upper and lower wall portion of each of the adjacent stacked casings when the retaining apparatus is in an assembled condition.

2. An apparatus to retain stacked casings in fixed spaced apart relationship with one another, comprising substantially identical mounting feet adapted to be inserted between opposite top and bottom surfaces of each adjacent pair of said stacked casings, each of said mounting feet being comprised of a mechanical means adapted for movement between a position in which the adjacent casings are free to be disassembled -with respect to one another and into another position in which the adjacent casings are stacked in fixed assembled relation with one another and wherein each one of the oppositely positioned mounting feet are provided with grooved out portions to pivotally support a bail thereon and for positioning the bail between the upper and lower wall portion of each of the adjacent stacked casings when the retaining apparatus is in the assembled condition and wherein said feet are constructed to enable the bail to be removed from its grooved out portions and to be swung in a downward direction beneath the front of each of said casings for supporting the front of the casing at an inclined angle to its lower rear surface on a flat support when the casings are disassembled from one another.

3. An apparatus to retain stacked casings in fixed spaced apart relationship with one another, comprising substantially identical mounting feet adapted to be inserted between opposite top and bottom surfaces of each adjacent pair of said stacked casings, each of said mounting feet being comprised of a mechanical means adapted for movement between a position in which the adjacent casings are free to be disassembled with respect to one another and into another position in which the adjacent casings are stacked in fixed assembled relation with one another and wherein the mechanical means is comprised of a screw member positioned to extend freely through an apertured wall formed in the mounting foot, the top bent portion of an inverted L-shaped lug is adapted to be mounted for movement within an inner apertured wall of said adjacent pair of casings, a nut is retained by the foot for nonrotatable traversing movement along the screw member with the remaining upright portion of the inverted L-shaped lug when said screw member is rotated in one direction, said screw member when moved in said last direction being adaptable to bring the lug into physical fixed engagement with the wall and to simultaneously move lip portions formed on each foot into fixed clamping engagement with flanges formed on the outer surface of each of said adjacent pair of casings to thereby maintain the adjacent pair of casings in fixed relation with one another, and the screw member being adaptable for rotation in an opposite direction to move the lug clear of the said inner apertured wall and the lip portions out of clamping engagement with their flanges to enable said casings to be disassembled from one another.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,735,926 11/1929 Jandus. 1,901,277 3/ 1933 Amspacker. 3,219,400 11/1965 Bergquist 22023.6 XR

FOREIGN PATENTS 558,062 2/ 1957 Italy.

DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner U.S.' C1. X.R. 220-23.6 

